For years our midfield was a problematic area of the squad, but under Unai Emery, Aston Villa have found a solution and the ideal balance with a key quartet fixing the issue.
Whether it was the system or the personnel being played in unnatural roles, Villa consistently struggled to dominate games in midfield with possession and lacked balance in our play.
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While others perhaps faced criticism instead, that glaring lack of control and presence in the middle of the pitch was a real problem in both phases of the game, and it was an issue for Dean Smith through to Steven Gerrard.
However, after his appointment in October, Emery made it clear immediately and reiterated his demand constantly for weeks that he wanted his side to control the game, through tempo, possession and positioning, and that all starts in midfield.
With a tweak to a four-man midfield for the most part with variations in and out of possession, Douglas Luiz was given the freedom to play in a more advanced role with Boubacar Kamara providing defensive protection behind him, while John McGinn also enjoyed the opportunity to be more influential in the final third with a role on the right side of midfield.
Injuries often saw the Scottish international shifted inside to play a more defensive part, but he excelled in both and was back to his best under Emery to help lead our charge for Europe.
Meanwhile, it has been felt for some time that Jacob Ramsey needed to find a settled, consistent role and position in the Villa XI to really fulfil his potential and increase his influence in our play, and he was finally given that chance by the Villa boss on the left side of our midfield throughout most of the campaign.
While McGinn personally conceded that he knows he can, and must, contribute more to our attacking play, and Kamara plays a largely defensive role, both Luiz and Ramsey relished their roles with the former contributing seven goals and six assists in 40 appearances last season, while the latter bagged six goals and eight assists in 38 outings.
There was a vital balance to our play when that quartet were fit and starting, with the tenacity, tactical awareness and positioning of McGinn and Kamara helping to shore things up and make us harder to beat, while Luiz’s technical quality and creativity allowed us to dominate possession with Ramsey’s powerful and penetrative runs finding holes in opposition defences and space for others to exploit.
Credit must also be given to Leander Dendoncker for stepping in at times and helping us maintain that balance and presence in midfield, while Emiliano Buendia, Leon Bailey and Ollie Watkins were also key as part of the collective performance.
Time will tell if Emery opts to bring in reinforcements in that department this summer as we do still need competition and depth to compete at the top level and across multiple fronts. However, in McGinn, Kamara, Luiz and Ramsey, he found a midfield quartet capable of dominating games for us and playing influential roles in both phases of the game on a consistent basis.
